Usain Bolt vs. The Cheetah: Olympians of the Animal Kingdom

Below:

Next story in Science

The Summer Olympic Games have begun with mostly hairless, bipedal
athletes vying for gold. But how would record-breaking runners,
such as the fastest man in the world Usain Bolt, fare against the
wilder side of the animal kingdom?

Turns out,
Usain Bolt would be left in the dust by greyhounds, cheetahs
and pronghorn antelope (if he were to take the four-leggers up on
a challenge), writes Craig Sharp of the Centre for Sports
Medicine and Human Performance at Brunel University in a
commentary in the journal Veterinary Record.

Sharp points out animal athleticism that would put to shame many
a human Olympian, while also noting humans would take home gold
in athletic versatility at the
Summer Olympic Games.

No worries, though, us bipedallers would give the Dromedary camel
a run for its money, at least the fastest of us would. Human
runners max out at a speed of 23.4 miles per hour (37.6
kilometers per hour), Sharp said. The Dromedary camel? This
ungulate tops out at 22 mph (35.3 kph). [ Look
Quick! Gallery of the Fastest Animals ]

A cheetah would clock in at 64 mph (104 kph), or about twice as
fast as the world's top sprinters, while the pronghorn antelope
would likely be on the medal stand, pulling out a speed of 55 mph
(89 kph). Even he fastest bird, the ostrich, may also take home a
medal in one of the running events, clocking some 40 mph (64
kph).

Kenyan runner David Rushida, world-record holder for the 800
meters, ran that distance in 1 minute, 41 seconds. That's
compared with a 33-second time for the pronghorn antelope and
49.2 seconds for
a greyhound.

An endurance horse could blow marathon record holder Patrick
Makau Musyoki (finishing in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 38 seconds)
off the course with a finish time of 1 hour 18 minutes and 29
seconds.

World champ Mike Powell is known for his record-breaking
jumps, reaching 29.36 feet (8.95 meters) in the long jump, but
that's nothing for a red kangaroo, which can leap 41.99 feet
(12.8 m).

The animal kingdom also has a strong contender for the high
jump: The snakehead fish can leap 13 feet (4 m) out of the water,
easily snatching the medal from athlete Javier Sotomayor, who
jumps to 8 feet (2.45 m).

Even Olympic weightlifters would have to contend with some fierce
competition from the African elephant, which can lift 661 pounds
(300 kilograms) with its trunk and carry 1,807 pounds (820 kg),
the grizzly bear, which can tote some 1,003 pounds (455 kg), and
the gorilla, which can lift a whopping 1,984 pounds (900 kg).